"Let there be peace, and let it begin with me," that's the motto for this year. May it be with you.

The year of the Metal Rabbit promises to bring some much needed peace and tranquility. If you are like most people, you probably feel like you were on a roller coaster in 2010, the year of the Tiger. That will generally not be the case in 2011, as the Rabbit is everything the Tiger is not.

The Tiger makes waves, but the Rabbit mends fences. Diplomacy reigns. If you want to improve your chances of success, you most often want to negotiate and cooperate rather than try to force your ideas and methods on others. It’s also a time to kiss and make up. Forgive and forget. Let’s all get along. Make love not war. If last year the emphasis was on excitement, it's now on harmony. [www.astrology.com]

Sounds good to me!

FYI: In the United States and other western countries, years are dated from a fixed time using the Gregorian calendar which represents time as proceeding in a straight line from the past to the future. In other parts of the world time is perceived as cyclical where events are repeated time after time according to some pattern. While the western calendar may be used in those countries for international/official/business purposes, the ancient calendars still survive.

The Rabbit is the first of the 12 animal signs in the Chinese sexagenary calender of 60 years which combine the animal signs (Mouse, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Boar) with the 5 elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). It's used in China and other East Asian nations like Japan and Korea. In Japan, according to Nihon shoki, the calendar was transmitted to Japan in the year 604, when the Japanese officially adopted the Chinese calendar.

Rabbit handcrafted by Fujiko Yoshimura.